What it does

Quazion is a new site that aims to bring you the latest news from many popular technology blogs and provide it to you all in one place. Simply put, Quazion takes RSS feeds supplied from sites like TechCrunch, GigaOM, CNN Technology, and others and puts them on their page which stops you from having to go to each individual page to get your tech fix. The lay out of the page is simple, although at the time of writing they seem to be having some problems with the formatting making the feeds a bit difficult to read. Also included is an option to check out the feeds of your favorite social bookmarking sites, companies, and gadgets.

In their own words

“Quazion is an RSS Reader that fetches and displays the latest news from the most widely read and accepted technology blogs.”

Why it might be a killer

Putting all of this related news into one space is a good idea and people may like the fact that they no longer have to surf from site to site.

Some questions

The current formatting makes the page difficult to read. Is this just a glitch with a quick fix? Also, there seems to be too much information. Perhaps they could consider allowing users to vote on stories of the day to create a mechanism that allows the content to be filtered down to a more manageable level.

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What it does

Wisteme is a web-based question-driven knowledge system where anyone can log on to get answers to even the most obscure questions. Users can easily search the database for pre-existing answers to their questions or they can post a new question. The interesting part about Wisteme is in how it gets questions answered. Anyone is able to answer questions or edit other answers and they receive free advertising in that question’s space for contributing. Businesses can therefore receive free advertising to a very accurately targeted audience for helping to educate future potential customers. Individuals can also answer questions and will receive free advertising space along with a share of revenues determined by the number of page views their answer has received.

In their own words

“Wisteme provides a web-based platform where anyone can collaboratively help to build a high-quality, content-rich, question-driven knowledge system. With its unique, patent pending technology, Wisteme empowers its users with efficient question search capability and an effective collaboration management environment. Anyone can be a reader of or contributor to Wisteme.”

Why it might be a killer

By providing a great incentive for people to contribute, Wisteme could quickly become a wealth of knowledge comparable to few others. Recognizing that the best way to encourage contributions is with an economic incentive and allowing businesses to demonstrate their knowledge and advertise at the same time are certainly killer ideas.

Some questions

How will they ensure that answers are accurate and not tainted by companies trying to sell their product? Communities can self-regulate many things but a bit of control will be needed to ensure that this becomes an unbiased database of knowledge.

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What it does

Many of you will already be familiar with Funambol, an open source project that provides push email, contacts and calendar functionality to more than 1.5 million mobile phones. Funambol’s community program, called Code Sniper, has been busy funding developers of mobile social networking solutions for the last year and has already introduced some great new mobile features. Funambol recently announced a number of new exciting projects for developers to start working on. Some of the more noteworthy developments include the ability to enhance your phone’s address book by getting your contacts’ photos from your favorite social network and appending them to your address book and the ability to sync events between your favorite social network and your phone’s calendar. Also, invite your contacts to your favorite social network straight from your phone.

In their own words

“Get icons/photos of your friends on your mobile phone. Many cell phone address books allow you to associate a picture or icon with the names in it. Sync Events. On your favorite social network(s), you have people who you like to hang with. Wouldn't it be great to be able to easily sync events from your favorite social network to the calendar on your mobile? And send events from your mobile phone to the social network?”

Why it might be a killer

Social networks and mobile applications are arguably the two fastest growing sectors of the mobile 2.0 community. Funambol’s funding of innovative projects that will extend social networking to the mobile phone at no cost could result in mass adoption of their software platform. Much will depend on the quality of the eventual solutions proposed but if Funambol’s past projects are any indication, look for this to become a real success.

Some questions

How long will we have to wait for these projects to become a reality? Many other big players are busily developing similar applications and the first ones out of the gate will have a big advantage.

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What it does

If you want to receive real-time information without surfing from page to page, your best bet is probably to use an RSS feed reader. There are essentially two ways to view RSS feeds, either by using an online service, or by downloading a desktop application. Mindity is of the second variety, meaning that you have to download their application to your desktop to receive browser-less feeds. Mindity is easy to use and basically just requires that you download it, register, and start cutting and pasting the URLs of the feeds you’d like to receive. As an added bonus, Mindity also incorporates elements of social networking to help you get the most out of your RSS feed reader. Other users of Mindity can vote on their favorite stories and the results are displayed on the Mindity website. User can also see a list of subscribed feeds of users who voted for a given article and easily share with your friends.

In their own words

“Mindity is a personalized newsfeed service that serves a community of web users by enabling them to explore the "Really Simple Syndication" (RSS) space on a single platform across a variety of feed formats. It is designed for people who want to stay on top of the news and never miss the latest and hottest stories, wherever their interests may lie.”

Why it might be a killer

Mindity stands out in its incorporation of social elements to its standard desktop reader. Like-minded users can share their favorite articles and introduce each other to new feeds or articles making this an attractive new way of getting better news and updates.

Some questions

The incorporation of social features certainly makes this a more attractive offering but will desktop clients, which require a software download, continue to be popular or will they lose ground to web-based solutions that don't require a download?

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What it does

ArticleOnRamp acts as a portal that allows businesses and others to upload articles in their area of expertise in order to promote themselves on the web. Webmasters can go to ArticleOnRamp.com to download these categorized articles and post them on their website free of charge, or other individuals can go to the site to read whatever they like. The premise is that webmasters will make use of this service to put relevant content on their websites, thereby helping to syndicate businesses’ articles and improve their exposure. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of the most popular articles which are ranked based on the number of times they are downloaded.

In their own words

“Webmasters, need content for your site? Get FREE articles from ArticleOnRamp.com. Use a few items at a time or subscribe to a variety of feeds. All articles are royalty-free.

Business owners, want to promote your business or Web site? Establish yourself as an expert in your industry by submitting articles in your area of expertise. ArticleOnRamp.com does not publish press releases. We suggest and use PRWeb.com for time-sensitive announcements.”

Why it might be a killer

Businesses will like the fact that they can promote themselves by demonstrating their knowledge and expertise in their area and also through including links back to their own site. Those in need of royalty-free content for their websites will also be happy.

Some questions

Can they find the right equilibrium between interesting and knowledge-based articles that will be desired by the webmasters and the add-filled articles that businesses will want to post? This could be a tricky line to draw and will ultimately determine the eventual success or failure of ArticleOnRamp.

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What it does

PopBandit.com is a social recommendation site that aims to help users find new products, videos, music, events, and even friends. When you join PopBandit, you design a profile and tell the site what you’re in to – “what you love, hate, have and want.” If you don’t find one of your favorites using the search function, you can create a page for it, which will be sent to PopBandit admin for approval. PopBandit generates a list of personal recommendations based on the preferences you registered, and you can then sort through the recommendations and rate things to suit your personality and taste. This further personalizes the PopBandit experience, and helps the site learn more about you. Recommendations are divide by categories, and clicking on any recommendation will open the item’s profile page, which displays information, user comments, and related items. You can even see which other members have subscribed to an item, and find easy links to look it up on Google or Wikipedia.

In their own words

"We'll match your likes and dislikes and recommend a few new things that you might find interesting. We'd like to think of ourselves as your own personal event planner-shopper-matchmaker-coolhunter."

Why it might be a killer

PopBandit takes personalizing your recommendations a step further than some similar sites, by allowing you to constantly provide new information through editing and ranking the recommendations generated. The more you use the site and the more likes and dislikes you register, the better the site will get to know you and the more useful its recommendations will become.

Some questions

Can a website make personal preference a science and ‘learn’ how to predict it? Or are many people’s tastes too random or particular for this site’s recommendations to really be as enlightening as they suggest? How does PopBandit.com plan to make a profit?

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What it does

Call Graph is handy piece of freeware for all you Skype junkies out there. It’ll let you record your conversations in MP3. So should you want to listen to a particularly funny conversation you had with Aunt Sally in Bolivia on your iPod, it’s possible. It’s also a nice bit of backup to record calls just case. It’s a whole lot easier to record calls with Call Graph on Skype than on a regular old landline. With Call Graph, you can set it up to automatically record all calls, or just do it manually on calls you choose. It supports all of Skype including Skype to SkypeIn, and SkypeOut calls. You can even tag calls for your records. Of course, you can use them to search calls as well. If you’re feeling lazy, they make it easy-- default tag is the name of the contact. Automatic updates are supported and as it’s currently in beta, suggestions are welcome.

In their own words

“Call Graph is an application which records your Skype calls in an mp3 file and indexes them for search later on”

Why it might be a killer

Call Graph is a good, easy to use free application for recording and organizing Skype calls. The free is key because a lot of other similar apps cost money.

Some questions

Can Call Graph compete with the other Skype recorders? Will they offer a Mac version? Will the sound quality of the recordings be a bother?

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What it does

Searching for a search engine that is a little closer to home? Oddpath is a localized search engine that features over 11 million listings of U.S. locations to help you find exactly what you are looking for. Search for business listings in your area that have exactly what you need, and Oddpath wll provide you with results that also include a Google map, photos, and community "buzz". If you are not searching for anything in general, Oddpath also lets you browse listings in your general area, and also offers Places of Interest for you to peruse. Oddpath also integrates a mobile interface within their service, for you to use on the go. Beta testing affirms Oddpath People Search produces more data than other people searches. Oddpath People can search for and map over 100,000,000 people in the U.S. without any charges.

In their own words

"Oddpath is what Oddpath does. Oddpath is a local search engine and directory that brings to your finger tips, all of North America’s businesses, shops, companies. From coffee shops to parks to gyms to nuclear power plants, Oddpath’s comprehensive database consists of eleven million listings (almost) of almost everything in the whole of the U.S.”

Why it might be a killer

Oddpath People looks to be the most simple/fast interface including the largest database to search people in the U.S. Oddpath People is simple, slick, fast, and can search 100,000,000 people free in the U.S. and map them too. This also includes reverse lookup (search by phone). Oddpath Money will soon launch with a new hybrid look and technology to track the markets and money worldwide. This will include a dynamic solution for users to enter information and look up various data points on both equities and markets. The data returned is compact, customizable, and incorporates comprehensive information, including charts, news, and historical stock prices, Level II, SEC filings, insiders, financials and much more.

Some questions

Do they really find any people in the US? How often do they update their base?

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What it does

So you’ve just landed a hot job at a high profile company and to ease you in, they’ve got you scheduling the next meeting with office heads in Berlin, Tokyo and, Tel Aviv. Not so bad on your end. You know when your cohorts are free for the most part, barring any last minute schedule changes, meetings, or jaunts to Timbuktu. But it’s the international entourage you’ve got to worry about. There’s time change for one and then there’s trying to pin down the most convenient and perfect time for all involved. When Is Good can help. When Is Good is a simple little website that lets you choose when is good. Just highlight the “good” times on the provided grid, When Is Good will send you a link back to send to your associates. Then they can show you what time is best for them. It’s that easy. There’s no passwords or registration required. And it’s free.

In their own words

“An a easy online tool that can help you choose the time for your next meeting or event.



Just click the grid for all the times that a good for you - we send you a link to circulate to your participants. They see your proposed times and click on when they are free. You see the combined results. Simple.”

Why it might be a killer

When Is Good is a great tool that requires no work. You don’t have to register or bother about password and anybody with a brain can use it. It also works out time zone confusion for you.

Some questions

What’s the non-free part entail? Is this a good business model? What about widgets for real time communication between two parties rather than emails?

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What it does

Why leave web design to the costly experts when you could do it yourself? Instant one-click web 2.0 sites are here with Notanant. The company provides on the fly websites racked with all your fav 2.0 features including social networking, media and e-commerce. The sites are extendable and fully customizable. Editing can be done online at moment’s notice, and you needn’t be a total code ninja to implement the changes you want. Tech know-how isn’t a requisite. Notanant has its own mail system which can be used for newsletters, internal messaging, and alerts. Permissions grant users complete control over who sees what. Also available are smart looking templates predesigned for ease of use. Notanant also offers professional web design and support as well as corporate intranet systems. The company’s technology may be used as well to launch 2.0 apps such as delivery mechanisms and marketplaces. A DIY 2.0 site will run you 24 pounds per year for 20+ pages.

In their own words

“Notanant designs and develops websites with our own extremely flexible Web2.0 website engine which has features such a social networking, knowledge management and e-commerce built in. All our sites are fully-featured, live and interactive websites can be set up and managed straight from a web-browser.”

Why it might be a killer

Notanant is jumping on the DIY bandwagon, making the web more accessible for everyone. Using their design platform and technology, anyone can easily construct their own flexible, premium startup with all the features everyone knows and loves. It’s designed to be highly intuitive and highly functional. Websites are constructed within your browser in minutes.

Some questions

How easy is it to customize your site? Must you purchase components separately? Do these sites compare to professionally crafted sites?

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